Starching-machine.



PATENTED AUG. 21, 1906.

W. J. ASHER. STAROHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED MAY 4, 1904.

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PATENTED AUG. 21, 1906.

W. J. ASHER. STARCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1904.

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UN TED STATES PATENT rrron.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 21, 1906.

Application filed May 4,1904. Serial No. 206,339

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM J. ASHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Willi mantic, in the county ofWindham and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starching-M'ae chines, of which the follow' g is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of machinesas, for instance, starching machinesin Which articles, such as articlesof clothing, to be coated are carried through a body of coating material, as starch, contained in a tank and preserved in a suitable condition; and my invention consists in the means for supporting. and conducting the aprons and the construction ofthe aprons.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates sufficient of a starching-machine in side elevation to illustrate one application of my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section through the vat or tank, showing the adjacent parts. Fig. 3 is a detail showing the vat and means for supplying steam thereto. Fig. 4 is an end view showing details of the tension device for the apron c. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the construction of the aprons.

The frame A of" the machine is constructed in any suitable manner and supports a tank or starch-receptacle B and a pivoted frame O, swinging about the point 40', which frame 0 supports the various guide-rolls, wringerrolls, and tension-rolls of the apparatus, suitable aprons passing tothese rolls. These parts supported by the frame 0' may be arranged in any suitable manneras, for in.- sta'nce, in the manner fully set forth in my reissued Letters Patent No. 12,172, dated November 24, 1903'; but a preferable arrangement is that which I will'now describe.

There are two endless carriers or aprons c c, and the apron 0 passes over a guide-roll 12 normally above the feed-board 41' when the machine is in operation and? moves downward in the direction of its: arrow, while the apron 0 passes around a. roll 11'. in position back of the roll 12 and" bringing. its apron in contact with the apron 0, so that the goods passing over the rolll12' and its apron will be carried downward? between the converging aprons c c and past the roll 11; Both aprons then pass down over a guideroll' Sandunder a guide-roll I4 but on leaving thelatter the two aprons are separated,

, roll? 16".

manner. From the roll 13 the two aprons pass upward over a guide-roll 6 and beneath: a tension-roll 4., where the aprons are separated; the apron: 0 being carried fore ward in a loop around a roll 10 and. between the latter and'theroll 11:,whereby the starch is squeezed from. the apron, one orboth the rolls- 1'0 and 11 being covered with rubber, so

as to serve the purposes of wringer-rolls for squeezing the starch from the apron, which starch falls downward into the starch vessel B The apron 0 passes from the roll 4 back and over a guideroll 3, beneath a guide-roll 2, and horizontally to and around a tension roll 16, and the apron c after leaving. the wringer-roll 10 passes over the apronc, between the rolls 8' and 2 and in: contact with the articles thereon, and. having been squeezed dry azbsorbsfrom the articles the surplusstarch. Ifthe pressure of the aprons shoul'di squeeze out any of the starch, it will fall downward into an inclined drip-pan 44', by means of which: it is conducted back to the starch-receptacle The articles are carried upon the apron a backward and are removed by the attendant before reaching From the roll 16 the apron 0 passes overa guide-r0115, under a guide-roll 15 in the starch-chamber, around a guide-roll 9,

, andfback to the guide-roll-12, while the apron c after leaving. therollZ passesover a guideroll 1 and thence to the wringer-rollll.

The guide-cams f g cooperate with the guide-rollsl and 12 in the manner set forth in. my aforesaid Letters Patent; but it will be seen that the arrangement ofguide cams and: rolls is more compact than in the arrangement of said Letters Patent. It will further be seen that by conducting one of the aprons away'fi om the other' between the rolls 1 3 and1-4 the before-described advantage of thoroughly starchingthe articles is secured and that by arranging all these parts upon a I swinging frame 0 the lower guide-rolls may be swung away out of the starch-receptacle and permit ready access to the latter and also to the rolls themselves.

I make use of a tank consisting of an outer sheet-metal casing 20, preferably of sheetcopper, and an inner casing 21, preferably of copper, with an intervening steam-chamber 00 around the sides and bottom, and I admit steam to the chamber a: at a low pressure,. providing an escape-port 46, so that there is a constant flow of steam through the jacket practically without pressure.

Thus constructed, due to the thinness of the material the heat of the steam is readily transmitted to the contents of the tank, and owing to absence of pressure there is practically no liability to injury of the tank from the pressure of the steam, while the construction is comparatively inexpensive.

Steam is admitted to the tank through a pipe 30, communicating with the chamber a: at any suitable point and provided with a hand-valve 34, which during the operation of the machine is so set as to permit the desired constant flow of steam through the jacket. From the pipe 30 another pipe 31, provided with a hand-valve 33, extends into the receptacle itself and across the same near the bottom and is provided with small orifices, through which the steam may escape into the mass of starch and whereby the starch if too thick may be thinned by admitting the steam thereto. Any drip from the condensation of steam within the jacket may es cape through a drip-opening 46.

Heretofore it has been common to use in starching machines loosely woven cotton aprons intended to allow the starch to pass through the aprons and be worked into the collars, cuffs, or other articles, or in other cases heavier or duck aprons were used intended to take in the starch at the beginning of the operation and work it into the goods. The loose-cotton fabrics were liable to stretch and become distorted, and the heavy ones would leave the goods in a more or less smeared condition and are impracticable, except with means for allowing the starch to get between the aprons. Aprons wholly of wool are absorbent, but stretch and wear rapidly. I make the aprons of a fabric having a relatively inelastic warp and a soft spongy and absorbent filling. The warp w may be of any suitable relatively inelastic material, preferably of linen thread, but hard twisted cotton or any other suitable fiber may be employed. Preferably the filler w is of wool, although it may be of any soft absorbent and spongy material.

By the use of the inelastic spongy or absorbent apron, the above and other disadvantages are avoided and the absorbent filling takes up the starch and transmits it to the collars, &c., so that they are evenly saturated with the starch, and later as the apron passes through the machine, the absorbent material will take up the surplus starch from the articles. The fact that the aprons are practically inelastic renders the construction of the machine more simple and compact, as it is not necessary to provide for so much take-up of the aprons.

By varying the tension upon the carriers or aprons by adjusting the tension-rolls the variations in the character of the starch may be compensated for, a greater tension upon the carriers or aprons being required in proportion as the starch is thicker. While any suitable means may be employed for securing this tension upon the tension-rolls 4 or 16, I prefer to use a weight or weights which may be adjustable, as by the addition or removal of more or less of the weight-pieces indicated at 47 and 49, but which always exert a constant force on the tension-rolls after once being adjusted, the force depending upon the wei ht upon the supporting-chains or other devices to which the weight is connected. Furthermore, it is desirable that the tensionroll shall maintain its parallelism with the guide-rolls, so that the carrier or apron pass ing over the tension-roll will not be liable to move laterally one way or the other beyond the capacity of the machine, and for this reason I prefer to have the weight connected in the manner illustrated more particularly in Fig. 4. Referring to this figure, it will be seen that the weight or weights 4? are supported on the chains 53, which pass over the sprocket-wheels 55, which are fast on the shaft 56, supported in the frame 0 and free to rotate therein. These sprocket-chains 53, as shown, are connected to the bearings 50 of the tension-roll 4, and it will be seen that they exert a constant tension on this roll, dependin upon the weight supported by the sproc st-chains. Furthermore, as the sprocket-' heels are secured to the shaft 56 so that they rotate in unison 1f perchance the carrier or apron should tend to stretch more on one side than on the other, which would permit the tension-roll to assume a relatively an ular position with relation to the other rolIs, and thereby cause derangement of the apron, it will be seen that the tension on the roll will still be exerted with full force, but it will be prevented from displacing e roll, as the tension will be equalized and the movement of one bearing 50 to a greater extent than the other will be prevented.

The devices for producing tension upon the roll 16 are substantially the same as the devices applied for this purpose to the roll 4, but in Fig. 1 only one of the series of weights 49 is shown connected to a chain 54 on one side of the machine, which chain passes over a sprocket-wheel on the shaft 57, supported sase in the frame of the machine, and the chain is connected to a bearing 50 at one-end of the roll 16, it being understood that there is a similar chain and weight similarly connected to the bearing at the other end of the roll 16, but not shown herein, the connection being substantially as indicated in Fig. 4 with reference to roll 4.

What I claim is 1a In a starching-n1achine, the combination with a receptacle, of a carrier, means for guiding the carrier, a tension-roll for the carrier, a weight connected with the tension-roll, and an equalizing device between the weight and tensionroll, substantially as described.

2. In a starching-machine, the combination with a receptacle, of a carrier, means for guiding the carrier, a tension-roll for the carrier, weights connected to the bearings of the tension-roll, sprocket-wheels rigidly connected together, and sprocket-chains passing over the wheels and supporting the said weights, substantially as described.

3. In a starching-machine, the combination with a receptacle for the starch, of endless carriers for conveying the articles to and from said receptacle, and a guide-roll arranged to deflect one of the carriers away from the other at a point within the receptacle, substantially as described.

4. In a starching-machine, the combination with the receptacle for the starch, of a pivoted framecarrying a series of guide-rolls, endless carriers for conveying the articles to and from the receptacle and passing over the guide-rolls, one of the guide-rolls arranged to deflect one of the carriers away from the other at a point within the receptacle, and a tension-roll for one of the carriers, substan tially as described.

5. In a starching-machine, the combination with the receptacle for the starch, of a pivoted frame carrying a series of guide-rolls, endless carriers for conveying the articles to and from the receptacle and passing over the guide-rolls, one of the guide-rolls arranged to deflect one of the carriers away from the other at'a point within the receptacle, a ten sion-roll for one of the carriers, and a weight connected with the tension-roll, substantially as described.

6. In a starching-machine, the combination with a receptacle for the starch, of end less carriers for conveyin the articles to and from the receptacle, gui e-rolls for said carriers, one of the guide-rolls being arranged to deflect one of the carriers away from the other at a point within the receptacle, a tension-roll for one of the carriers, squeezingrolls for the carrier, and means for causing one of the carriers to take up the surplus starch from the starched articles, substantially as set forth.

7. In a starching-machine, the combination with a receptacle for the starching material, of an endless apron arranged to pass through said receptacle to receive the starch, said apron having an inelastic warp and a spongy filler, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAl I J. ASHER.

Witnesses: 4

ARTHUR L. BRYANT, FRANCIS S. MAGUIRE. 

